In 1908, A. N. Meldrum condensed malonic acid with acetone to produce a compound he misidentified as a carboxylic acid鈥攈ence the name 鈥淢eldrum鈥檚 acid鈥�. Not until 1948 did D. Davidson and S. A. Bernhard show that the compound has the dioxane-dione structure shown here. Its acidity derives from the lability of the hydrogen atoms between the carbonyl groups. The same authors noted that Meldrum鈥檚 acid is a ketene precursor. Recently B. Moon and C. J. Hawker聽.
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